How to prepare for IIT JEE in last 6 Months!
Are you a JEE aspirant with following doubts?
- Only few months are left for Board and IIT JEE Main/Advanced. Where to concentrate?
- I am confident about concepts, but I go blank in exams.
- I am forgetting previous studied topics and not able to solve problems.
- Sometime I get very scared and feel like giving up.
You need not press panic button if you have above doubts. It had been the pre-exam state of mind of even those students who cleared IIT JEE! Important thing is to find correct solutions of these questions. So just relax….and continue reading….
As on today, 4-5 months are left for JEE.
The bad news is that the time flies 
, the good news is that you are the pilot 
, the good news is that you are the pilot
You can’t go back in the timeline, but certainly you can extract the productivity of almost 1 year, in just 4-5 months. This blog will help you to understand the fine points to increase your efficiency.
Schematic flow of the blog:
1. Significance of Positive and Vibrant attitude
2. Following a schedule
3. How difficult actually it is to crack JEE Main/Advanced?
4. Mistakes committed by students.
5. Study Plan?
2. Following a schedule
3. How difficult actually it is to crack JEE Main/Advanced?
4. Mistakes committed by students.
5. Study Plan?
a. How to prepare for boards and JEE simultaneously?
b. How important revision is?
c. Which book should be used?
d. Importance of previous year JEE papers.
e. Mock Test
f. Subject wise details
g. Time Bound Studies.
h. Sticky/brief notes
6. General Tips
a. Be in contact with your mentor for guidance.
b. Get a suitable environment for studies.
c. Avoid rigorous sports.
d. Don’t talk to pessimist.
e. Avoid distractions.
f. Keep Fit and have healthy food
Note: (Different students have different level of preparation; accordingly, interpretation of the blog content should vary)
1. Positive and Vibrant attitude.
Every morning after waking up, tell these things to yourself:
‘I have to utilize today, in the best possible way for my studies.’
‘I just don't care about yesterday; I know I can remain focused today.’
‘I will stay away from all distractions.’
‘I won’t mind losing a mark, but I will curse myself, If I miss an opportunity to gain a mark by wasting time.’
‘ I will surely work on my weakness by the help of my mentors.’
Such a positive body language in last few months, is the key factor to conquer JEE. You already have enough knowledge and this is the time to channelize your knowledge into marks.
Negative thought process may cause anxiety, which leads to the failure of lakhs of students. By the help of 5-minute meditation, followed by strategic revision and mock test, you will be able to express yourself naturally by keeping anxiety at bay.
2. Follow a schedule
Here is a typical planner, which has helped many of my students to score good in JEE and crack splendid All India Ranks including AIR 1, 22, 37, 44, 75 etc. This planner is just to give an idea and actual plan may vary student to student.
| Time | Activity | Details |
| 7 AM | Get up and freshen up | Make it fast and don't waste time in reading newspapers etc. After bathing just meditate or sit alone for 4-5 minutes doing some introspection/day planning. |
| 7:20am -7:30am | Breakfast | I know it is fast, but it is fine. Hurry up, morning time is very important and you have already slept for almost 7 hours. Come on… jump on your study table |
| 7:30am - 9:15am | Study time | Mind is fresh, do some numerical problem solving. |
| 9:15am - 9:30am | Short Break/Test Preparation | Get ready for the mock test, by setting your clock, OMR etc . (If you are not taking test, then just glance your formula book casually, or simply take a break roaming inside your house/garden) |
| 9:30am - 12:30pm | Study time | (This is the time when JEE/board exams would be conducted and your body should get acclimatize with exam type situation in this time interval.) Take a mock/sample test under time constraint. You may give previous year's JEE paper or some sample board exam paper or simply study your planned subject. Click here to know more details about mock test of JEE Main. |
| 12:30pm-12:45pm | Break | Take a break and have some juice/milkshake/fruits |
| 12:45pm-2:15pm | Study time | If you have just taken a mock test, then analyse the paper. Mark and revise already learnt formulas, which you have forgotten and couldn’t recall in the mock test. A quick revision will fetch you easy marks in these topics. Click here to know how to analyse mock JEE Main. In case you didn’t take any mock test in morning slot then study some concept which doesn't interest you much. Since it’s just a 90 minutes session, you can very well concentrate. |
| 2:15pm-2:30pm | Quick Lunch | Eat lots of vegetables/pulses/salads and less carbohydrate. |
| 2:30pm-3:00pm | Break | 30 minutes power nap or just a relaxing and rejuvenating spell with music. |
| 3pm-6pm | Study time | Continue revising/solving problems of those concepts, which you studied at 12:45 pm slot or study some already planned topics |
| 6-6:30 pm | Snacks/break | Go out for a walk/rope skipping/push ups/ mild sports. |
| 6:30-9pm | Study time | As per the plan, revise some already learnt topics |
| 9pm-9:30pm | Dinner/Break | Quick light dinner and 15 minutes of evening walk. You may request someone to quiz you with 15-20 simple memory based questions from inorganic chemistry or some physics or maths formulas over phone or in person. |
| 9:30 pm-12 am (or 1am) | Study time | Take some interesting subject, so that you won't fall asleep soon. May be mathematics/physics problem solving |
Sleep for around 6-7 hours.
3. Is it really difficult to crack JEE Main/Advanced?
If you are playing chess against an unknown chess player. Before the game starts, someone whispers in your ears “Your opponent is an international level champion !”
Will you be able to think naturally and play comfortably?
Usually in such cases, people get mentally bogged down and can’t think of the best move. Even if your opponent is an average player, you may end up losing the match, just because you had a “Wrong Perception”
Many students have a similar “Wrong Perception” about JEE, as rumors are whispered in their years “JEE is meant for supernatural students only”. Such “Wrong Perception” may lead to mental defeat.
Clearing JEE is much easier than what many people think!
Typically, there are 90 questions in a JEE Main exam with 360 as maximum marks. As many as 9 of these question are based on 10th standard knowledge and approximately 12 are directly from 11th and 12th standard school textbooks. These 21 (=9+12) easy questions can fetch you sure shot 84 (= 21 X 4) marks and here you clear JEE cut off!
Someone who has concentrated only on school studies, can also get these 84 marks in worst possible scenario (qualifying criterion of JEE 2017), by selecting these 21easy problems. Since JEE Main exam duration is 180 minutes, every question will get 9 minutes (assuming attempt of just 21 questions). With better preparation, 10-15 more problems can be solved. That will boost your score to around 140 marks! Students with appropriate practice, rigorous revision and lots of mock tests can aim at 250 and sometimes even 300 !
Every year at Prime Academy Pune, our 11th standard students are asked to solve that year’s original JEE Main paper. Though these students are yet to enter 12th standard, still they manage to score 80-85 marks! That justifies the simplicity of JEE Main.
Ideally all these should score more than 200 in JEE Main after another year (12th standard) of preparation, as they would have gained more confidence and covered more topics. But surprisingly, not everybody is able to clear JEE Main! What can be the possible reason for this inconsistency? To understand the reasons, check the next point “Mistakes committed by students”
4. Mistakes committed by students
- During Jan-April (four months before JEE) many students press panic buttons and develop a negative feeling, which simply shakes their confidence and derail them from the correct track.
- Exam temperament. Minor disturbance in exams may lead to nervousness and terrible blackout. In last section I had mentioned about 11th standard students attempting original JEE Main paper and clearing cut off. These students had an advantage of taking the test without any pressure, as the paper was meant for seniors (12th standard students). Neither they had finished the complete syllabus nor there was any expectation pressure. With a relaxed state of mind, they calmly search and select all easy (around 25) questions, from the already covered syllabus. Practicing mock tests, helps in improving Exam Temperament.
- Lack of revision and tendency to blindly run behind new topics.
5. Study Plan
In this section, I am going to talk about following:
- How to prepare for boards and JEE simultaneously?
- How important revision is?
- Which book should be used?
- Importance of previous year JEE papers
- Subject wise details
- Time Bound Studies.
- Mock Test
- Sticky/brief notes
How to prepare for boards and JEE simultaneously?
Board exam preparation can go hand in hand with JEE, you just need to synchronize them smartly.
First of all, stick with just 12th standard topics (only 2 months are left for board). Take a topic and finish it from the board’s point of view. Before switching over to the next topic, solve 2-3 problems of JEE Main of just finished topic. This way you will be doing justice to your board preparation and simultaneously JEE will also remain intact.
Few students rely on last 2-3 weeks, for Board exam preparation. It is acceptable if you are very confident about board and have already scored around 80% in pre-boards. Or else start the board preparation 3-4 months in advance. Advantages of starting board preparation little early, are as follows:
- You can attempt pre-board exams confidently and a decent score there, will boost your confidence. Usually score of board is 5-10% more than that of pre-board.
- Even just before board, you remain connected to JEE preparation by solving few daily problems.
- In case if you realize that time left is not supporting preparation of board as well as JEE simultaneously, then you can simply drop JEE preparation and concentrate completely on boards (for last 2-3 months). See its safe!
Revision
Simply studying new material, slouching over your books for long hours will not guarantee high JEE score. Remember, studying a concept and not being able to apply it on the day of the exam is as good as not studying it at all. You have done alot many things in last 2 years and it's the high time to polish them so that you can use them in exam. Many time students were comfortable with a particular concept (say fluids) at some point of time, but they couldn’t solve even an easy problem (of fluid) in JEE, just because they didn’t revise fluid. A revision slot of 2 hours (of fluids), would have helped them to recollect all the basics, subsequently they would have easily solved 1-2 fluid problems in exam. But their greed to finish more topics, made them invest (waste) 15 hours in a new topic (say SHM). In this time, they could have comfortably revised 5-6 already finished topics (like fluids), which would have fetched them 16-20 more marks (4-5 problems). Because of time constraints, students anyways leave few problems unattempted. Eventually they leave questions from freshly learnt topics.
In JEE, even 60% score leads to a top rank. Wow! you can choose to royally ignore approximately 30% problems in exam and can still be an IITian! Its safe to concentrate only on 80% topic thoroughly and do rest 20% superficially, without much of expectation from these 20% topics. Beware ! Chasing these 20% topics may lead to injustice to rest 80% topics and overall loss of confidence.
Reattempting already solved multi-conceptual problems is the best way to revise. All good coaching classes for IIT JEE cover a vast section of multi conceptual problems in lectures. Thoroughly re-attempting one such problem, typically takes 5-10 minutes and it leads to the revision of 3-4 concepts. If you don’t have sufficient time to attempt all of them, then just go through the solution of few of them and solve other few. This way you will have a better coverage of concepts.
Which book should be used?
Try to stick with previously used books and notebooks. To understand the importance of these books/notes, lets take an example. A student of Prime Academy Pune studied Electrostatics thoroughly, in DC Pandey sir's lecture. But now he has forgotten few concepts of “conductors”. If he is referring his old notes/books, then he can easily land on the desired page, and revise the desired concept. Contrary to this, any new book will create confusion as it will be difficult to switch over to the desired page.
NCERT chemistry is must do book, even if you haven’t started doing it, I will still recommend you to read this book. Lab manual and practical note books should also be finished thoroughly, as JEE Main asks lots of experiment based problems.
Avoid unwanted research in a specific topic. E.g., JEE doesn’t check your concepts of “Einstein’s theory of relativity” by asking about relativistic charge particles in electrodynamics. But many students waste their crucial preparation time in getting into these irrelevant details, which not only leads to wastage of time, but thinking process also gets haywire.
Importance of previous year JEE papers
Many students get demoralized by seeing few peculiar problems of a topic from some book and start doubting themselves. But when it comes to solving previous year JEE problems, they comfortably solve them. It all happened because requirement of JEE was very different from the kind of problems they were breaking their head with. Religiously attempt all previous year JEE questions to get a better look and feel of level and types of questions.
Subject wise details
I have mentioned fine details of many topics
Physics
| Topics | Difficulty Level | Frequency of questions asked | Imp for | Remark | What if you haven’t gained any confidence in this topic? |
| Modern Physics & Thermodynamics | Moderate/Easy | Very Very High | Main/Advanced | 1. Many direct formula based questions or very basic conceptual problems are asked. 2. Usually its easy to prepare for these topics as they are independent of rest of the core physics and are very less time consuming 3. Prepare them for Phy, you automatically get prepared for 2 important topics of Chemistry | Still you have to do these topics. In worst case, you can leave higher level concepts of Radiations and entropy. |
| YDSE | Moderate | Almost Everytime | Main/Advanced | You can score in this topic, just after attending one proper lecture. My video lecture is available for this. | Still you have to do these topics. You may leave triple slit problems etc |
| Waves | Easy | High | Main/Advanced | Direct Formula based Problems are asked | Then just go through solved examples of HC Verma/DC Pandey and previous year JEE problems. Atleast go through the standard formula of Progressive wave and relation between Amplitude/wavelength/frequency etc |
| Error Analysis | Easy | Almost Everytime | Main/Advanced | Direct Formula based Problems are asked. | Atleast finish it from School books. |
| Dimensional Analysis | Easy | High | Main/Advanced | Atleast finish it from School books. | |
| Optical and Electrical Instruments | |||||
| · Communication System · Semiconductors · Electromagnetic Waves · Damped oscillation formula · Diffraction and Polarizations · Photometry · Magnetic properties of matter | Very Easy | High | Only Main | Don’t try to do research in these topics. Direct formula based Problems are asked. Every year so many easy questions are asked and unfortunately students miss out crucial marks, just because they left these topic as as they could not get into the details and left these topics. I repeat, mostly direct formula based problems are asked. | Atleast finish these topcis from School books. Solve all the problems of previous JEE. Thoroughly go through formula and note down all of them on charts which you can stick on walls. |
| Optics | Moderate | High | Main/Advanced | In Main mostly they ask direct lens/mirror problems. In Advanced they ask multi refraction problems | Just 2 hour session can help you conquer the multirefraction problem. If time is an issue, then you may skip moving body problems |
| Electrostatics | Moderate | High | Main/Advanced | Then at least do basic coulombs law, potential and be through with 12th standard text book | |
| Rotational Motion | Difficult | Moderate | Main/Advanced | Then leave it. Just remember few basic formula of Moment of inertia and Torque | |
| . Fluid, Gravitation, Properties od matter | Moderate | Moderate | Main/Advanced |
Mathematics
| Topics | Difficulty Level | Frequency of questions asked | Imp for | Remark | What if you haven’t gained any confidence in this topic? |
| Coordinate Geometry | Moderate | Very High | Main/Advanced | Atleast go through Lines, circle, Parabola and ellibse. You may leave hyperbola | |
| Calculus | Moderate | Very High | Main/Advanced | Do basics | |
| Trigonometry | Moderate | Main/Advanced | Do basics | ||
| Sequence and series | Easy | Moderate | Main/Advanced | Do basics | |
| Matrices determinants | Very Easy | Moderate | Main/Advanced | Do basics | |
| Mathematical logic | Very Easy | 1 in each exam | Only Main | Still do it | |
| Statistics | Very Easy | high | Only Main | Still do it | |
| Complex numbers | High | Moderate | Main/Advanced | Just go through basic formula based problems | |
| P&C Probability | High | Moderate | Main/Advanced | Then leave it |
Chemistry
Chemistry is the easiest and the most scoring part of JEE Main and Advanced Paper. Even if you don’t like it, you should have a strong hold on Chemistry. Go through NCERT thoroughly for Chemistry as if its the Bible for Chemistry.
| Topics | Difficulty Level | Frequency of questions asked | Imp for | Remark | What if you haven’t gained any confidence in this topic? |
| Physical Chemistry | It’s the most logical and mathematical section of chemistry. | Do atleast 50% of the topics | |||
| Organic Chemistry | Most of the questions in JEE Advanced test how well you understood the mechanism of the reaction. | ||||
| Inorganic Chemistry | It’s a memory based section and requires lots of systematic mugging. Don’t forget to surface chemistry and biomolecules, | Do some limited section |
Time Bound Studies.
To crack tough competitive exams like JEE Main and Advanced, strategy can often turn out the deciding factor between success and failure. To formulate an effective plan :-
- Set deadlines to complete topics by the set dates. Write it down in the plan. This will help you measure your progress and acts as a motivator.
- Try to hit a right balance between Boards and JEE
- Be realistic. Trying to do too much, will cause stress and disappointment. Include some rest and recreation time in your plan.
As per the plan, if you have decided to study Electrostatics for 6 hours on Tuesday, then make sure that you should do as much Electrostatics as you can, within these 6 hours only. Going beyond these 6 hours may ruin the whole plan. Usually students feel like revising for few extra hours, to gain more confidence. But there is no limit of this “more confidence”. As per the time allocated and your comfort factor with a specific topic, decide the number of questions and depth of revision.
Mock Test
A simple equation. Your Exam score = Knowledge X examination skills
If all the easy questions of JEE Main are printed on first few pages, then number of students clearing predefined JEE cutoff, would increase to almost 20 times! Unfortunately, all these easy and average level problems are scattered throughout the paper randomly and they get hidden in between many tough nuts. Ability to pick these easy/average problems without getting trapped with tough nuts is examination quotient/skills (E.Q.) Another aspect of EQ is, to remain focused even when you are finding it tough to score in the exam.
Best way to boost EQ is, to practice more number of mock tests followed by proper analysis. With these mock test try to develop some exam strategy, which suits you best. There are few tried and tested strategies to attempt an exam. Click here to know more about exam strategy.
While taking mock test, you should set the timer of your clock as 9:30 am. That will condition your brain as per the actual JEE time. If you are in habit of solving chemistry first, for around 40 minutes, then at 10:10am you will switch the subject in the exam. After giving many tests, 10:10am will get set in your brain, which will be helpful in keeping track of time in exam.
Sticky/brief notes
Have you ever observed that you tend to read and remember almost everything in few newspapers, which are pasted on windows? Though they are not important, but those papers come in front of your eyes so repeatedly, that you subconsciously read and remember. Make brief notes of these formulas and stick them on the walls of your house. Frequent glancing will help you to remember them easily.
But don't waste your important time just before JEE, in making these charts and sheets, if you already have, then simply paste them. Or else roughly write few formulas etc on sheets and paste on walls, without wasting much of time.
If there are few formulas which are important but difficult to be derived, then there is no harm in mugging them in last few months before JEE as they will get settled in your short term memory and you can easily recall them in exam. Such sticky notes will help you remember these formulas
6. General Tips:
Avoid rigorous sports
Whenever you want to take a break, just go for a mild walk or do rope skipping/pushup or just play some light sports with your parents/siblings. Avoid strenuous sport, as you will get tired and a tired mind finds it difficult to concentrate on studies. Chances of injury also increase in strenuous sports. Any injury during last few days of exam can be disastrous.
Don’t talk to pessimist
There are many people, who always speak negative. They just extract negativities from everywhere and cultivate them in their mind. They may demotivate you beyond measure by saying, “studies are difficult, cracking JEE is beyond our scope” etc. Stay miles away from such pessimist.
Get a suitable environment for studies
Try to find a silent place to study. Study place should be properly ventilated and illuminated. Keep a water a bottle on your table to avoid getting up frequently.
Avoid Distraction
To increase your chances of clearing JEE score, stay away from following distractions:
- No TV
- No computer/mobile games
- No outing/movie
- No Facebook/watsapp
- No friends/novel
- No laptop/computer (unless you are giving mock tests)
- Parents should also avoid going for outing, inviting guests at home, watching TV etc
Be in contact with your mentor for guidance.
Last few months, before JEE are very crucial and requires expert guidance. Be in touch with your mentors they can give you many crucial and customized tips, which can boost your JEE score.
Keep Fit and have healthy food
Kind of diet you follow is very important. You need to feed your body and brain with healthy diet like green leafy vegetables, nuts, fruits, milk, etc. Say big no to junk foods, aerated and packed drinks. Outside and unhygienic food may be little risky. If you have to step out, you should carry a lunchbox, home made snacks or packed biscuits of standard brands and a bottle of water.
You should be drinking eight to ten glasses of water each day because even mild dehydration may negatively impact the status of the brain. Drinking fresh juice will make you feel very much refreshed and your state of mind will improve. Make sure that you take proper sleep on daily basis.
Crash Course
You may join some good coaching class for crash course, but make sure that you talk to the teachers for best possible customized program. There can never be a standard program, which will suit every body as level of preparation varies student to student.
Just one week before JEE, you have to follow a very different type of schedule.
